Today was the official last day of Senior project, however I stopped working in the classrooms yesterday. I spent the majority of today getting last minute things together, making sure my paper was as good as it could be, and finishing up my visual presentation for express fest. I got everything in order, and I am excited to share what I have been doing the past couple of weeks with the community tomorrow. I hope that I can convey to my committee members how much this experience meant to me. I hope that they can see the work that I put in too. I am very proud of the work that I did at The Foote School, and I hope that shows tomorrow at Express Fest.
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Today was a rough day, not only was it Monday, but it was my last day. I helped the fourth graders polish their biography reports, and worked separately with certain second graders who have been struggling with math. They are just starting multiplication, and I remember how challenging that was for me. I really enjoy working with these kids because I hope that I can in some small way help them understand multiplication better, and perhaps help them to have a more positive experience than I did. The end of the day however, was particularly challenging. Some of the second graders started crying when I told them that I wasn't going to be coming to their classroom anymore. However, I did tell them that my family is on the board at Foote and that I will be around campus in the next coming weeks, and will probably see them in the next couple of years. The fourth graders where so grateful to me, they kept on saying thank you for coming and helping with our papers, etc. It filled me with s
Week 3: Weekly blog This week, like last week I really got into a habit/ routine of working with the second and fourth graders. I found that I was needed most in those classrooms, and also that I could feel like I was helping the most while there too. Like I said in my daily blogs, I am learning so much, and I feel as though I have gained so much from this experience. For the longest time I have gone back and forth in my mind trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, and this experience of working with kids in classrooms gave me the opportunity to explore something that I may be interested in pursuing as a career choice. This week I spent time not only working one on one with children focusing on writing, and research, but I also was grading and organizing! I felt so useful, but at the same time felt like I was getting almost a full experience of what it may be like to be a teacher. It made me think a lot about my future, and I had some meaningful conversations with my
Friday was a long day. Although there was much to do, it seemed to drag on and on. I spent the morning working with the second graders as we finished up the final touches on their African Animal books, by gluing the pages onto construction paper and laminating their covers. I then spent the rest of the day in the art classroom, working with a separate group of second graders, and then a group of 5th graders. The time I spent in there was full of multitasking, when I have been in the art classrooms the past few weeks I have spent it mostly setting up for the class, and then doing housekeeping around the art rooms for the remainder of the period. However the past few classes I have been helping more with the kids, as well as doing the housekeeping things. So yesterday I was constantly up and down trying to do a bunch of things at once.
Today I really felt like a teacher... from time to time the teachers have asked me to do organization things, and even grade a few things, but today I spent the whole day grading and organizing. It was pretty wild to think that I am grown enough to grade things! I always thought of that as something that held a lot of responsibility. It was really cool to do, and I was able to work with kids who I found we having a harder time understanding certain concepts. Putting numbers into grade books made my eyes sore! I really do have a greater appreciation for teachers and understand how sometimes they take a little while to grade a test or a paper. Aside from grading and organizing and the occasional sit down with kids to go over their work, I played a really good game of checkers... I am not a checkers player, but a second grade girl asked me to play today and I couldn't say no. She plays with her family so she was surprisingly good, and I was a little embarrassed to be getting beat by a
This morning I was working in the fourth grade classrooms again, working with the kids on writing their biography reports. Although this is a bit repetitive, each day the kids are working on a new paragraph and I find that there is always something that I can do to help. I spent the remainder of the day working in the second grade classroom, I walked them to their specials, worked on math (triple digit subtraction), and they finished their animal reports today!
This morning started off in the second grade classrooms. The kids are finishing up their African animal research books, so it is a very busy time. I spent a good time one on one with this one girl named Dorothea who was very behind on her book. She told me that she has a very hard time staying focused, so I sat with her while she worked making sure everything was running smoothly. After snack the kids came back and started on their scrap books, they are making scrap books of all the things that they worked on while studying Africa. After lunch I went and spent time in the fourth grade classes again, like I said yesterday the kids just finished their research and notecards so they have started their monologues. I worked with many of the children one on one to perfect their introduction paragraphs and go over the checklist that including the important aspects to their first body paragraph.
Monday mornings are always rough, especially in 4z. This morning the kids had little to no energy to work, and after about 20 minutes of failed work time we gathered the kids up on the meeting rug. We then had them play a game in hopes to get their energy up and focus. After the game the kids started asking me a lot of questions, because I too, went to Foote I had a lot of the teachers that they have or know of. So, after about 10 minutes of answering every possible question about my time at Foote, I learned of the lack of filter that 9 year olds often have. However, after that half the kids had language and the other half stayed in class to continue work on their biographies. Today was the final day of research, and so I spent a lot of time again going over notecards, and making sure the kids knew as much about their subject as possible. Tomorrow the kids start writing their actual biography essays! I am excited to help them with that.
Week 2: Weekly blog This past week I spent a lot of time helping out in second grade and fourth grade classrooms. My mentor decided that those are the places that I am most needed as well as the most helpful. I learned a lot this week, especially in the second grade classroom. I had no idea children could be so difficult, and how hard it is especially when kids have all sorts of different kinds of learning styles. I worked separately with some of the kids in the second grade class who were dyslexic, or one boy who I wrote about in my past blog who was color-blind. The kids are so high energy and they are so interested in what they are currently studying that the classroom was a wild place this week, and we needed to constantly remind the kids to calm down, or to use their inside voices, etc. This week during some of the time I spent helping out in the art classrooms, the teacher asked me if I want to become a teacher, I told her that I was thinking about it but was still unsure. S
Today was another day that I spent in the fourth grade and second grade classrooms. For the most part I have been working with one fourth grade teacher, but today I was in a different class. In that class I ran the same kind of writing workshop and met with the kids separately to go over their research on their biographies. While in the second grade classroom today the kids were working on their "spirit cards" which depicted a scene from field day, and said what team they were on etc. However, when they were coloring, this one boy Henrik told me that he was color blind and that he had to read the colors on the crayons instead of just looking at them. I shared with him that my grandfather and brother are actually color blind too. Once I walked away he said that he was starting to feel confident with picking out the colors just based on what they looked like to him. However, green and brown look the same to many color blind people. So, when Henrik colored the background brown,
This morning I spent the first couple of hours in the fourth grade classrooms. While they are studying their states, they are also doing biographies on someone important to American History. Once they finish their biography reports they have to dress up like their person and present a monologue recounting their life in front of the whole class. So, first the teacher and I explained basic research skills, and how to correctly use notecards, although many of the kids actually have a lot of their work done. After, Ms. Quinn (the fourth grade teacher I work with) asked if I would meet one on one with each chid and go over their research, and put everything into chronological order so that when they go to write the actual report it will all be laid out for them. So I spent 30 minutes each with 6 kids today making sure that everything was in order for their biographies, and I helped them get important facts to their persons life that they might have been missing. Then later on in the day,
Today was Field day at Foote, which means the school is separated into two teams (maroon and grey) and compete in field day activities like 60 yard dash, three legged race, tug of war, etc. So this morning before the games began, I was in the second grade classroom again. We read out loud, and then worked on math problems. We did an activity called four strikes and you're out, which is sort of like hang man but for math, so the kids had to guess the numbers logically based upon what numbers were already put down. Then, after we finished this game the kids broke up into their "tribes" and each kid in each tribe got a different multiplication worksheet using arrays. Then when everyone was finished we would come back together to go over all the worksheets. This time we spent working on these worksheets was actually really fulfilling for me, as I was going around checking the kids work, I noticed that this one girl was having a hard time. So, I sat down with her in an attempt
When I walked into the second grade classroom this morning, all the kids were gathered around a blanket in the middle of the meeting rug. As I walked in closer, I realized there were four little chicks on the blanket. One of the girls in the class, her family had just hatched some chicks and she brought them in for show and tell. After morning meeting, the kids quickly got back to work on their research books. During this time, I took the kids in small groups down to the library to either get last minute research done, or get photos for their books. Later in the day, I went to the fourth grade classroom again and continued the writing/editing workshop on their persuasive essays.
Second week started off well today! I started the day off in a fourth grade classroom, and after morning meeting I had a writing workshop for the kids. The fourth graders are currently each studying a state and are working on writing a persuasive essay on why we should visit each state. I met with each child separately and we went over basic mechanics, spelling, as well as making sure everything made sense. Then, I went and worked with some second graders. The first grade is currently studying Africa, and so each child chose and animal from Africa to study, and at the end of their research they each are going to make a "book". So, during my time in that class I helped them with research on their animals, and towards the end of the class we started making their books!
Week 1: Weekly blog I was not expecting to learn as much as I did this week. Although I learned a lot by helping out in the classrooms, I learned the most while working on the second part of my project. That part being MOSAIC, as well as the work with FGM. While I was at Foote (2004-2014) I was part of the diversity group, however once I got to highschool I kind of stopped being involved in those kinds of things. However, this past week, meeting with the MOSAIC coordinators, and doing research I am really excited to be involved in this kind of thing again. Going in to this project I was not really sure what to expect, of course I had a general understanding of what I would be doing, but a lot of it was still being discussed and my mentor continued to change her ideas on what she would like to have me work on. The things in the classrooms where for the most part what I expected, however the work with MOSAIC and FGM has been totally different from anything that I expected. At first,
Today was a very informative day. Although, I spent some time in classes helping out, I spent the majority of the day researching for the WeSpeakOut part of my project. When Female genital mutilation was ever mentioned I kind of had an idea of what it was, but alway brushed it to the side because it wasn't something that was particularly relevant. However, today I spent a good amount of time researching it and learning as much as the internet could teach me. And now I recognize it as something that is incredibly important to be talked about, I wonder what more I can do to help. Upon the recommendation of my mentor, I watched the documentary Eve's Apple on Netflix. This film is a series of interviews with policy makers all over the world, as well as girls in Gambia and Kenya. Through these interviews, I learned of the horrors of FGM and of all the efforts that are in place attempting to end it. I highly recommend this documentary because it was so eye opening and educational.
Today was an eventful day. I was at Foote this morning, however the day was cut short due to an issue that was going on a street away. My mom called and had me bring my brother home because many parents didn't feel safe with all the police cars and swat teams. Once home, I spent the rest of the day working on things for MOSAIC. I looked up speakers, brainstormed more ideas for potential diversity awareness days, etc. I then prepared materials for tomorrow.
Today, I worked on the second part of my project. At Foote, there is a parent run organization called MOSAIC. This stands for Multicultural, Open-Minded, Supportive, Accepting, Inclusive Community. This group works to promote diversity at Foote, by bringing in outside speakers for the school community, as well as the greater New Haven community. During my time at Foote, 2004-2014 diversity was something that was not something of the same focus. Now, there are workshops and discussions that are constant happening. So, this morning I spent a couple of hours with the organizers of this group, and we brainstormed ideas for potential speakers, what we might be able to do for workshops, etc. With this group, I will also be working with one of the women who is involved in an organization called We Speak Out, which is an organization that speaks out for women's rights and fights to end Female Genital Mutilation in India.
Today was my first day working at the Foote School in New Haven. Today was full of figuring out schedules, familiarizing myself with classrooms as well as teachers. I spent the majority of the day sitting in on classes, attempting to figure out the dynamic, as well as how I can be useful to the students and teachers. Something that was particularly interesting to me was sitting in on a seventh grade humanities class, usually the class is spent half english and the other half history. However, today they spent the majority of the time talking about history. The topic was the OJ Simpson case, and I thought it was really interesting how this is something that is taught in classrooms now. I did not have very much prior knowledge about the case, but the conversations that were had in class were quite interesting and thought provoking. Based off of what I did today, I am really looking forward to the next couple of weeks.